Back when Alex Scott stepped onto the pitch for his local team debut against Phoenix Sports before a mere 55 spectators in 2019, his manager at the time predicted, “there’s more to come from this youngster.”
This prediction proved to be a bit of an understatement.
Now aged 22 and an established top-flight player with Bournemouth, the playmaker has earned his maiden call-up to the senior England squad.
His rise from eighth-tier talent to potential international star is a proper blast from the past, a story seldom seen in the modern game.
What’s next? A major tournament?
“In my mind, there was zero possibility of making it as a professional football player, never mind featuring in the top division and representing the national team too,” the player said previously.
“It has been a incredible five or six years of my life, and things have changed drastically for me and my loved ones.”
But in what way did Scott, known fondly as the ‘Grealish from Guernsey’, end up here?
Developing in non-league
Scott’s path in football has been far from a conventional one.
He was part of over four years in the Saints’ academy setup from the age of eight, skipping school every Friday to travel by air from his home on the Channel Island to the mainland so he could attend training and feature for the club’s academy sides.
Before he turned 13, however, they decided to let him go. The Cherries gave him an option and he was on the Cherries’ books for a while, but, as he later admitted, his mind wasn’t fully committed.
Rather, he chose to remain on the island and turn out for his local team.
“My form had dipped and flying over every week was starting to feel a bit too much,” he explained.
“I just wanted to chill at home with my mates at the weekend because I missed almost four and a half years of that experience. To have that slice of childhood again was a thing I definitely required.
“To gain some confidence by returning and playing island football was huge for me. That proved to be probably the most crucial factors that got me to this point.”
When he was just 16, Scott became the youngest player in the club’s records when he came on as a second-half replacement in their Isthmian League match at Phoenix Sports.
“I’ve been having trouble sleeping because I was trying to work out how I could include him in the team because he’s that good,” manager the coach commented back then.
“People have witnessed that – his retention of the ball is outstanding, the manner he carries the ball, he’s a class act.”
Returning to the professional game
Championship side Bristol City – chaired by islander Steve Lansdown – had been tracking his development after an impressive start in adult football and gave him a try-out in December 2019.
“It was hectic,” said the player. “The first day I joined the youth team, the next day I was with the first team, which was a complete surprise.
“On the Wednesday I played for Guernsey FC in London, travelled back and on the Friday, I played for the youth team and scored a hat-trick. It was almost a certainty for me to sign a contract.”
In just a year and a half, even some way short of his 18th birthday, he was earning his senior debut versus the Hatters.
Scott went on to make eighty-three league appearances for the Robins while still a teenager, often being deployed as a wide defender – and sometimes in attack as a number 10 – demonstrating his versatility and versatility. Even at that young age and not in his natural role he was their best player.
With his skill to drive the ball up the pitch, and with his socks down to his ankles, he earned the moniker ‘the Guernsey Grealish’, a reference to City and national team attacking midfielder Jack Grealish.
At the end of the 2022-23 campaign he claimed the EFL Championship’s best young player honour, was selected in the division’s best XI and was voted the club’s player and young player of the Year.
“Without question, I think he will represent England and I’m sure he will progress to the top of the game,” his former manager, the player’s manager at the club, stated last year.
Within three months after, he signed for Bournemouth for a understood fee of 25 million pounds.
Securing his big move
The midfielder endured a challenging debut campaign with the club, waiting until the autumn to earn his Premier League debut after a knee problem in pre-season, and then finding himself in and out of the team.
His second campaign was equally disrupted, this time by a knee operation which sidelined him for nearly several months.
“I had a decent run at the close of last season, which was good to have, then I broke my jaw,” said Scott.
“That felt like almost another obstacle and it was turning out to be a pretty bad start for the first five months.”
But he was then selected by the national team for the Under-21 European Championships – and managed to get himself fit for the tournament.
He started five of the Young Lions’ six matches as they claimed victory in the competition in the host nation, forming a strong understanding in midfield with his teammate, who himself has gone on to impress for the senior side with Thomas Tuchel.
And he has begun the current campaign just as impressively for his club, featuring in every game to help them to fifth in the standings.
“Representing the England senior team would be one of the proudest occasions of my career,” Scott stated recently.
“The responsibility is mine, I’ve got to continue developing as a footballer, maintain my love for the game, getting better day on day, and with luck I catch the eye of the England manager and earn an opportunity.”
